"I don't see anything, do you?" Simon asked as he flipped helplessly through the channels on the one small television.
"Not a thing," Eleanor sighed.
"Well, we'll just have to keep trying tomorrow," she said determinedly. "Now, do you want to have a planning session or a theorizing session? Or do you want to just take a break this afternoon?"
"We did a lot of theorizing yesterday," Simon said out loud. "And we can't plan unless we're done theorizing. But I think my brain needs a break."
"Completely understandable," Eleanor nodded. "We'll do some more thinking tomorrow."
She hopped off the table and scampered out of the rec room.
Simon sighed as he flopped back on the table. They had searched the channels every day to catch any sign of Jeanette. They had theorized about what might have happened to her and what Zoe was planning, and they had planned accordingly on how to rescue her. They were taking steps.
But they were still just baby steps. They were doing everything they could do, but Simon couldn't help the nagging feeling that it just wasn't enough.
He wanted to rescue Jeanette now. He wanted to see her, touch her, feel her. He wanted to take her into his arms, feeling her body against his. He wanted to stroke her dark brown hair and look into those beautiful purple eyes…
He wanted her here. He wanted her home.
Well, he thought sternly to himself, you'll just have to keep trying, then.
He began to flip through the channels again.
Callie stayed perched on her chair as Zoe thanked the ladies and gentlemen, pride and glee brimming in her voice, and then locked Callie's cage again before picking it up and carrying it out of the room.
There was complete and utter silence until Zoe exited the room. Then they heard excited mutters break out in the room behind them.
"This is big," they heard one man whisper before they stepped into the elevator.
As soon as the doors closed, Callie threw herself up against the bars and she and Zoe instantly began to squeal together.
"Did I do it?" Callie gasped, grasping the bars for support. Her legs felt suddenly weak and jelly-like, despite how strong and energized they had felt during her performance. "Oh, Zoe, did I really do it?"
"BABY!" Zoe shrieked, pulling her out of her cage and into an enormous hug. "Oh, baby! Oh, honey, you NAILED IT!" She laughed, and Callie laughed with her. "Callie, you were outstanding! I didn't know you were capable of that!"
Callie blushed and looked modestly down at the ground.
"And your run at the end!" Zoe continued to gush. "We had agreed to take it out because we didn't think you were ready for it yet, but oh, not my baby! You were SPOT ON! Do you KNOW how HARD that routine is? TWO cartwheels, front handspring, a QUADRUPLE FLIP, and STICKING that landing without so much as a wobble! You did it…you did it…oh, yes…you did it…" Zoe was now doing a victory dance around the elevator. Callie giggled and did a few moves from her routine on the floor, joining in with her erratic adoptive mother.
Just then the door slid open.
"Oh!" Callie gasped. She launched herself off the floor and into the cat carrier. Zoe quickly shut it and walked briskly across the lobby. Beforehand, no one had even cast a glance in their direction. Now, though, everyone was murmuring and trying to get a better look. Apparently, they had been told about the amazing performance upstairs, and everyone was trying to see who had done it. Callie stayed in the shadows, roaring with laughter on the inside as everyone craned their necks to try to see her. Her.
She could barely believe it. She hugged herself with glee. As Zoe got into the car and began to back out, only one thought was in Callie's head.
I did it.
"Is he all right?"
The question slipped almost silently from Brittany as she stepped into the room, but Eleanor heard it.
She shook her head sadly. "He's not getting any better."
"I wish he would stop tearing himself up over it," Brittany moaned as she followed Eleanor to the girls' bed. "Honestly, it isn't his fault. None of it is."
"I know," Eleanor said quietly. "It's a classic after-effect from shock. Blaming yourself for what happened, even if you know inside that it wasn't you." She nodded wisely. "It happens often, from what I've been told."
Brittany sighed and cast a sad look over at Alvin, who was sprawled out on the bed.
"Did Theodore talk to him?" she asked in a whisper.
"No, Theodore was waiting to see if I needed backup with Simon," Eleanor whispered back. "Theo's in school right now, and—,"
"Wait, school?" Brittany interrupted. "School just let out a few minutes ago. Why is he still there? Does he have a detention or something?"
"No, he missed German yesterday and he has to catch up," Eleanor explained.
Brittany nodded in understanding. Each chipmunk pair was taking a different language. Ellie and Theo were taking German, Brittany and Alvin were taking Spanish, and Simon was taking French.
Eleanor was proud of how Simon seemed to have turned around. He went from a lifeless, smelly lump on the bed to the active, determined, and definitely more hygienic Simon that they all knew. He worked hard in school every day, getting even better grades than Cody and Bailey did (and they were the smartest two on board). After school, he was in the rec room, planning and strategizing, reading fat books and drawing and writing in his notepad, checking the computer and the Internet for signs of Jeanette, and constantly flipping through channels so much that it was background noise for whatever else he was doing. Eleanor was so proud of her brother that she thought she might burst.
However, she was a bit curious about this French thing. She hadn't thought Simon was going to take a language this year. He didn't have a particular interest in learning another language, definitely not French. She would have expected Chinese, if anything. But he threw himself into his studies of the French textbook just as vigorously as his other subjects. Eleanor ventured up the courage to ask him one day why he was taking French.
"Jeanette has always wanted to learn," he said firmly. "She's told me so thousands of times. So we can learn it together when we get her back."
"She'll be behind the rest of us, though," Eleanor pointed out worriedly, distracted for a moment—she hadn't thought of that.
"That's why I'm taking it," Simon explained. "I'll be able to tutor her after class, and she should catch up in a month or two. She's very smart, and she's only missing a year."
A shadow crossed his face, and he turned back to the computer and searched the Internet again, reaching out with one foot to the TV remote and changing the channel every few seconds.
Eleanor smiled to herself and quietly slipped out of the room after examining the television and the computer screen over Simon's shoulder to make sure there was nothing new.
Alvin, however, hadn't been to school since he had run out that day. He thought that what had happened to Jeanette was his fault, and he barely did anything anymore. At first, it hadn't been so bad, but gradually, he was replacing Simon as the lifeless, smelly lump on the bed.
Eleanor breathed in as she passed Alvin on her way out and instantly regretted it—her nose wrinkled as she coughed once and held her breath. When was the last time he had taken a BATH?
The sense of déjà vu was so powerful that it almost knocked her over. It was Simon all over again.
They had to fix this.
She ran to find Theodore.
Callie paced.
Back and forth. Back and forth. Back and forth.
What was she going to do?
How on earth would she suffer the humiliation if they didn't agree? They'd hated her. She just knew it.
Back and forth. Back and forth.
They weren't going to do it. She would be doomed. And Zoe! Zoe would be so disappointed…
Back and forth. Back and forth. Back and forth.
And then what would she do with her life after that? How would she survive? How would she keep on going?
Back and forth.
It was all she could do not to scream.
The telephone rang.
Callie did scream, jumping in the air. "ZOE!" she shrieked at the top of her lungs, but Zoe was already diving into the kitchen to grab the phone. She yanked it out of its cradle and pressed it up to her ear.
"Hello?" she asked, fighting to keep her voice calm and under control.
A pause.
"Yes, this is."
Another pause.
"Oh, hello, sir."
Callie gnawed anxiously on her nails.
"Yes," Zoe said, "we did. Yes. Yes, I remember."
There was another long silence.
"Yes, sir," Zoe said with a clear hint of pride in her voice, "she is something special, isn't she?"
Callie beamed.
There was another pause. Zoe froze. Then she quickly turned away from Callie, her shoulders hunched.
Callie felt her insides freeze.
"Oh," Zoe said.
Her voice was completely neutral.
Callie's teeth almost started chattering.
"Oh, I see."
Pause.
"Yes. Yes, we will."
Pause.
"Thank you so much for calling, sir."
Pause.
"Yes, we can."
Pause.
"All right, then. Thank you. Yes. You, too."
She hung up and turned to face Callie. Her face was drawn and pinched.
Callie knew that look.
They had said no.
She stared at Zoe in horror.
"Callie," Zoe began, taking a deep breath.
Then her face split into an enormous grin.
"WE GOT THE DEAL!" she screamed at the top of her lungs.
Callie's mouth dropped open as her adoptive mom danced around the kitchen in what seemed to be a victory dance.
"We WHAT?" Callie gasped, and then it sank in.
She had done it! They got the deal! The men and ladies had been impressed by her. She was going to be a superstar!
She let out a shriek of delight and did three back handsprings, a backward twist, a roundoff, and three flips before landing in the splits, throwing both hands in the air. She did a handspring, flipped, and landed back on her paws. Then she began to dance around the kitchen with her mother, not choreographing it at all, just being happy.
She hugged herself in delight.
I'm going to be a superstar.
"Alvin?"
Alvin looked up and saw Theodore standing at the end of the bed with a sympathetic look.
"Hey, Theo," he said quietly.
"Alvin," Theodore said sternly, "what happened to Jeanette was not your fault."
"Theo, listen," Alvin said, exasperated. "I—,"
"No, you listen," Theodore snapped, and Alvin immediately shut up, not used to hearing his brother speak like that. "You were being an idiot on the ship, sure. But then when we were shipwrecked, you worked hard to save everyone. What happened to Jeanette was Zoe's fault. You had nothing to do with it. You were trying to get us all out of here! You were trying to get Zoe out of here, too. You would have saved her. And you and Brit even went after her, and it wasn't your fault that she smashed the log bridge. You're blaming yourself for something that is not your fault, and this is common in a trauma. But you have to stop it now. And if you're not listening to a word I'm saying, and if you still think that it's your fault, you can make things better by helping us find Jeanette again. You can help us look for her on the Internet and on television, Alvin, and you can help all of us by giving us our brother back. Brittany is worried sick about you, did you know that?"
Alvin peeked up at him with one amber eye. "Brittany is worried about me?" he asked skeptically.
"Yes, she is," Theodore said firmly. "You haven't moved in three days. You must be starving!"
A loud rumble from Alvin's stomach enunciated Theodore's words.
Alvin thought for a long time. He finally heaved himself off the bed and ran to the door.
"Where are you going?" Theodore called after Alvin, confused.
"I'm gonna go raid the kitchens," Alvin called with a twinkle in his eye. "Maybe they've got some bacon leftover from breakfast."
With a cackle, he darted out of the room.
Theodore smiled to himself as he ran to tell Eleanor and Brittany the good news. Alvin was back. They were all a family again. Now the only one missing was Jeanette.